By Matt Wright, former Lakeland School Board member.
People forget how much had to be done when we created our school system back in 2014. We had one school in Lakeland (Lakeland Elementary) and unlike other schools systems that had traditions in place we had to create our own. For instance Houston High School (Germantown) had been the Mustangs since they opened in 1989. Arlington High School was already the Tigers and Bartlett High School had been the Panthers for many decades when their school system was created. Every municipal school already had well identified colors and logos representing their students and communities but Lakeland had to start from scratch. Here’s how it happened.
The Backstory
In 2013 current school board chairman Kevin Floyd and I campaigned together, going door-to-door for the first Lakeland school board. When you are walking door-to-door and trying to campaign, you have a lot of time to talk. One day, to pass the time, I told Kevin if Lakeland ever had a high school, would it make sense to call them the Lakeland Tide? Kevin, being a graduate of the University of Tennessee and a diehard UT fan said if he were elected, he would never allow a Lakeland school to be called “The Tide” (because of UT’s rival Alabama). Kevin remembers that today saying, “Little did we know that funny conversation would be a serious conversation very soon.”
After winning election to our first school board (which included myself, Kevin Floyd, Laura Harrison, Kelly Hale and Teresa Henry) we had to make several quick decisions to get our school system started. Among those decisions included something that would have a lasting impact. What will the official mascot be for Lakeland? Lakeland Elementary was informally called the Lions because of a lion statue (a relic from the old Lake Land amusement park) in the school lobby. However, no official action had ever been taken to make that decision formal. As a school board we put serious thought into several possible names before taking the Lion as the official mascot. Three options we considered were:
The Lakeland Showboats
The Lakeland Skyriders
The Lakeland Racers
All three of those options had a prominent tie to Lakeland history. The showboats had two ties actually, the history of a USFL team in Memphis but also a Showboat was used to ferry passengers from one side the lake to the other at the old amusement park. The skyriders (using a hawk as the mascot) referenced the old gondola ride over the lake because of an old Commercial Appeal article once calling the riders in Lakeland the “sky riders”. And the racers was a reference to the old drag strip in Lakeland (where The Lake District is currently being built).
I even once joked we could be the Lakeland War Machine. I thought area teams saying they had to play the “war machine” sounded intimidating but the conversation ended pretty quickly with the ladies on the school board (a wise decision).
But in the end it made the most sense to officially adopt the Lion as the official logo for all Lakeland schools. That was also a first by the way. Lakeland is still the only school system in this part of Tennessee where all schools in the same district have the same mascot. So no matter if you are in kindergarten at LES or a senior at the soon to be Lakeland Prep you are a Lakeland Lion once and always.
Oh, the colors? That was simple. It made the most sense to have blue (water) associated with anything called Lakeland but more importantly no area public school has the light blue and navy color scheme which made it easier to brand ourselves from others.
So next time you see the light blue Lakeland Lion on a car, shirt, helmet, etc., you’ll know the rest of the story.
